1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to cellular telephone system call features and management. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a system for and method of notifying a cellular telephone customer of a missed call using a short text message.
2. Background of the Invention
Cellular telephone usage has been growing at an exceptional pace. People use cellular telephones for a variety of reasons including safety, increased availability while away from a conventional wireline/landline telephone and/or because cellular telephone services provided by cellular telephone providers can offer greater value compared to conventional wireline service. In all cases, however, cellular telephone customers typically seek a reliable alternative to conventional wireline means of communication wither because they are away from the wireline means of communication, or because access to those means of communication is inconvenient.
To enhance a cellular telephone customer's sense of staying in touch, cellular telephone service providers offer voice mail service as one of many service offerings. This well-known service causes an incoming call to a cellular telephone, which is not available to receive the incoming call, to be forwarded to a voice mail service where the caller can leave a message for the cellular telephone customer. Typically, an incoming call will be forwarded to voice mail when the cellular telephone is powered off (i.e., not registered), when the cellular telephone is being used (and no call waiting feature is available), or when the cellular telephone customer configures his cellular telephone to forward incoming calls to voice mail even though the cellular telephone is powered on and available to receive calls.
Since voice mail is often an add-on feature that is not typically included in basic service plans offered by cellular telephone service providers, customers who desire voice mail must pay extra for this service. However, not all customers are willing to pay the full fee for voice mail service. On the other hand, some of these same customers might still desire a service that provides information regarding incoming calls that might have been missed.